Page 39 of Better Watch Out

“I’ve got our girl.”Our girlsends a strange, electric feeling through me, though I don’t think I can process it right now. Not with my heart twisting and racing in my chest, and my entire body tense for my attempts to get free.

“What are you doing?” My question goes unanswered and I snarl up at Boone. “Boone, tell me what the hell you’re doing! And get off—” He suddenly wraps his free hand around my jaw, covering my mouth and preventing me from doing more than making muffled, pissed off noises.

“Don’t be so ungrateful. You were in such a rush to open your presents before, remember? We’re giving them to you now, so be a good girl and pay attention.” Teasingly he grinds his hips against me, pulling a yelp from my throat at the feeling.

Fear is quickly following the anger, and it’s hard to stop my hands from shaking as a shiver rolls through my body. I’dthought…well I certainly didn’t expect to wake up like this, still shaking off the sleepiness of the Benadryl with Boone pinning me onto the couch.

It makes me wonder, though I keep trying to avoid the thought.

Are they going to kill me?

Desperately I whimper under his hand, wishing I could find his eyes in the darkness of the living room. It has to be around five am, given that the sun isn’t even starting to rise. The mountains make the sun rise a little later here, but I’ve always been good at telling what time it is based on basically no information.

Not that it matters.

Not now, when we’re alone in the mountains with no one around to help me. My whimper becomes a desperate, terrified whine, and I flinch when the television suddenly comes on. Boone lets me turn my head, and I watch, confused, as Fletcher uses the remote to navigate through the apps on the smart TV until he gets to YouTube.

Am…am I going to have to watch a video of the murders from last year? I don’t know if I can, or how I’ll react, when I know they took their time. When I know they?—

Fletcher’s profile comes up and he goes to his private videos, though there’s only one there. And even from the thumbnail, I know exactly what it is.

I’ve been sent this video enough times, seen it on enough screens, to knowexactlywhat it is. This time the sound that leaves me is of desperate resignation, and I shake my head fervently.

I can’t watch this again.

“Shh,shh.” I don’t realize I’m still making soft, pleading noises in my throat until Boone calls attention to it, and my gaze goes from the brightness of the screen to his face, begging himwith my eyes not to make me watch this. “You’re okay,” Boone promises kindly. “You’re okay, I promise.”

But I’m not okay. Especially once I hear the telltale giggle at the start of the video. My eyes close and I groan, but I don’t need to actually watch the video to know what’s happening.

“There’s no way she thinks this is real.” Joanna’s snicker is a whisper from close to the phone, and in response, Olivia scoffs.

“She will, though. Haven’t you seen the way she looks at him? You know how desperate she is.”

Amuffled voice comes next, and I hunch my shoulders as if I can hide from everything. I don’t know why they’re making me watch this. Ilived it. Why do I have to do this again?

“There’s a reason for this,” Fletcher promises, leaning over the couch with the remote in his hand. “I promise, okay? We’re not trying to hurt you. We just…want you to appreciate things. But also we need you to know you don’t get to hide things from us.” In the brightness from the screen I see him tilt his head down to look at me, eyes dark. “Anything.”

If I wasn’t about to enter severe-emotional-distress mode, that would sound worse than it does and definitely get a reaction out of me.

“If I take my hand off, will you stay quiet?” Boone murmurs, leaning down until he’s close to my ear. I hesitate, unsure, before giving him a quick nod that has him sliding his hand down to press comfortingly against my stomach.

“Please don’t make me watch this,” I whisper, closing my eyes. “Please, I can’t?—”

“Hiding from it doesn’t make it less real, princess. Open your eyes.” Fletcher’s tone is a warning, and I force myself to open my eyes and look at the screen again, at the video taken from Joanna’s phone while Olivia hid in the closet with her.

The door to Theo’s bedroom opens and I watch as he pulls me inside, a smile on my face illuminated by the soft lamp onhis bedside table. My heart sinks as he leads me to the bed, wrapping his arms around my shoulders and pulling me against him.

“Are you sure we should let this go?” Joanna asks softly. “What if she?—”

“Actions have consequences and she shouldn’t have been flirting with him,” Olivia cuts her off flatly. “If she wants to act like a slut, then everyone gets to see.”

A shudder goes through me and I cringe, barely able to watch as Theo coaxes me into removing my shirt and leggings. I remember this night, how tipsy I’d been, howhappyI’d been that Theo told me he liked me and how he and Olivia were amicably over.

He assured me there wasn’t an issue, that no one was upset and we were all still friends.

Over my shoulder in the video, Theo glances toward the closet and grins, rolling his eyes and mouthing something I can’t hear. I couldn’t hear it then, either, as his fingers came up to tug off my bra, even though I’d murmured my nervousness and hesitation.

Only for him to shush me and tell me it was fine.

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